UN Women, the United Nations body dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, has joined the Advisory Council of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights.
UN Women supports UN Member States as they set global standards for achieving gender equality, and works with governments and civil society to design laws, policies, programmes and services needed to ensure that the standards are effectively implemented and truly benefit women and girls worldwide.
UN Women Sports for Generation Equality initiative, launched in March 2020, aims to mobilize the sport world to implement the visionary global agreement on women’s rights, the Beijing Platform for Action, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. The Centre for Sports and Human Rights fully supports the vision and principles outlined in this initiative. The Centre is committed to working collaboratively with peers and stakeholders to develop, implement and enhance the gender equality agenda in and through sports, with a specific focus on the efforts needed to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in and through sports.
The Centre for Sport and Human Rights works towards a sporting environment that fully respects human rights through collective action and promotion of the Sporting Chance Principles.
Through its Advisory Council, the Centre brings together an unprecedented alliance of intergovernmental organisations, governments, sports bodies, athletes, hosts, sponsors, broadcasters, civil society representatives, trade unions, employers and their associations, and national human rights institutions.
Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, Executive Director, UN Women said: “We have a tremendous opportunity to make the promise of gender equality a reality in and through sport. And as we celebrate 25 years of the Beijing Platform for Action, I welcome this partnership with the Centre for Sport and Human Rights to address some of the many obstacles that prevent women and girls from realizing their rights, and to put an end to human rights violations, including sexual violence, harassment and abuse in sport, as well as to leverage the power of sport to deliver on the unfinished business of Beijing.”
Mary Harvey, CEO, Centre for Sport and Human Rights said: “I’m proud to welcome UN Women to the Advisory Council of the Centre. It confirms the increasing focus on women and girls in sport and demonstrates the faith UN Women has in working with us to further the cause. Working together, we can champion many human rights issues through sport from the safeguarding of girls and women athletes, to ending all forms of discrimination on and off the field of play; to protecting the rights of women in sport and to increasing their participation in leadership and at all levels of the profession.
